600 Watt Short Arc M-134 Cannon Light - INFANT AN/ASQ-132

BVH

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After 2 weeks of excitement and anticipation this up till now unknown military light has arrived. I'm extremely pleased and a little bummed at the same time. The seller could not tell me much about the light except that is was tested (according to the inspection tag) and in working condition. He could not tell me if it was incandescent or Short Arc. He offered to remove the infrared lens and snap a pic but that never happened before the end of the auction. So, I just took a chance and bought it knowing it could be simply an Incan. Without further adieu, I introduce the 6" Light Cannon:


Short Arc de Triomphe. Arc chamber is 1.125" in diameter. I'm guessing it's a 300 Watt light but conceivably, it could be 500 Watts EDIT: It's 600 Watts

ShortarcdeTriomphe.jpg



Short Arc Powered by Eneloop

ShortArcpoweredbyEneloop.jpg



All Business

AllBiggerBusiness.jpg



All More Business. The reflector is 5" in diameter

AllBiggerBusiness.jpg



Target In Sight, Sir

TargetInSightSir.jpg



Fan The Flames

FanTheFlames.jpg



Cool it Dude

Cool-ItMan.jpg



Half Life

HalfLife.jpg


Cover Your Eyes

CoverYourEyes.jpg



Cannonized

GimmeJuice.jpg



Bottoms Up

BottomsUp.jpg



Locked But Not Loaded

ToppedUp.jpg



Now for the disappointing part…The ballast is not in the can! Big disappointment! EDIT: The ballast IS in the can!!! The reflector, bulb and its support system occupy the front half and the heat exchanger, input connector and cooling fan occupy the back half. Looks like I have my work cut out for me to find the ballast and power supply. But all-in-all, I'm still ecstatic in having the light.
 
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ma_sha1

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Re: 300 or 500 Watt Short Arc Light Cannon

Nice Find BVH, shapes like a big brother of Mega ray, is it about 3 feet long?
 

Parker VH

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Re: 300 or 500 Watt Short Arc Light Cannon

Bob, You never cease to amaze me with your great finds. Good luck with this one also.
 

CKOD

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Re: 300 or 500 Watt Short Arc Light Cannon

Nice find, is the igniter internal to the head or is that seperate too?
 

BVH

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Re: 300 or 500 Watt Short Arc Light Cannon

Although I have not pulled it completely apart yet, from what I can see from both ends, there appears to be no lamp electronics in the can. But I'm not 100% sure. In between the back of the bulb and its support mechanism, and the rear radiator, is another radiator in the bulb chamber. A metal bulkhead separates the two radiators. What has me wondering though, is why there is a 9-pin connector leading into the can. Besides the Cathode and Anode connections (the two large pins), there needs to be + and - leads for the fan and possibly a common ground between this light and whatever it mounts to and the power supply. So that's 5 leads. What are the other 4 for.
 

BVH

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Re: 300 or 500 Watt Short Arc Light Cannon

Well I was 90% sure there was no ballast and ignitor in the can but to my amazement and sheer joy, its all there, built on the framework that holds everything together. There's also another cooling fan inside the lamp chamber and it looks to be a closed cooling system. The inside fan recirculates air from the inside of the radiator throughout the lamp chamber, by the bulb and back to the radiator. The outside of the radiator is cooled by the fan in the back chamber.

I sent pics of the lamp and light off to Advance Radiation Corp. (ARC) and they think based on the pics that there are some broken connections and that the bulb may not work. They say it's somewhere between a 500 Watt and 800 Watt lamp and that they can make me a replacement. So no issues there. If I can get this baby going, I'll have the "500 Watt Spectrolab Starburst" that I've always wanted but in a much more compact, handheld package! I'll be excited to find out how tight the beam is. By coincidence, ARC's founder, Ray, the gentleman I spent some quality time with in trying to get a bulb made for my communicator, had a bulb mfg business before he started ARC. The company name initials were PEK. Guess what's on the base of my bulb and who made it? ARC also believes this is/was a tank light.

I've only given the circuits a cursory look but am still not quite sure why all the 9 wire connections are needed. There are 2 small pin grounds to the case. There are the main connections for the Cathode and Anode lamp bases (large pins) and one small pin positive for the fans. The other 4 small wires are going to components on various places on the boards, one being a small blue wire to the transformer. I'm hoping some of you might be able to suggest the purpose of them and what I should feed them with, if anything. I'll come back later with some pics showing where all the wires go.


Overall4thquarter.jpg



Overallfirstquarter.jpg



Overall2ndquarter.jpg



Overall3rdquarter.jpg



Overall4thquarter.jpg



Transformerandotherstuff.jpg



Terminalboard.jpg



PCboard.jpg



Otherthings.jpg



Igniter.jpg



Transformerandotherthings.jpg


The recirculation fan in the lamp chamber

Lampchamberrecirculationfan.jpg


One of 3 magnets affixed to the reflector. Two small and one larger. Purpose is to straighten out the arc. The larger the Wattage and gap, the more tendency for the arc to bow.

Smallreflectormagnet.jpg



The Lamp

600Wattoverallview.jpg



Ribbonconnection.jpg



Gap is 2.5mm
ClosestView.jpg
 
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FRITZHID

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Re: 300 or 500 Watt Short Arc Light Cannon

WTG Bob!!!!!:party: I'm Glad to hear all the components are there in what looks like a very nice, neat lil package! should be a beast then shes up and running! Great pix as well, ty for shairing them with the rest of us! cant wait for the beam shots!:popcorn:
 

BVH

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Re: 300 or 500 Watt Short Arc Light Cannon

Thanks to Phil Ament, I know know the application of my light. It's an Infrared 500 Watt, M-134 Gatling gun mounted light used on Huey helicopters in Viet Nam in conjunction with the INFANT1 System. Here's a link to a pic. Look just below the horizontal stabilizer at the round tube sitting on top of the cannon.

//cs.finescale.com/FSMCS/forums/p/90402/883686.aspx

An excerpt describing the system: The Iraquois Night Fighter and Night Tracker (INFANT) (AN/ASQ-132) system was equipped with Low Light Level Television (LLLTV) eqipment to find targets at night (2 8 inch screens up front and a 14 inch screen in the cabin). The right sensor formed electronically intensified images and displayed them on a TV monitor. The left sensor housed the LLLTV. All the INFANT hueys were armed with eth M21 weapon system (M134 Minigun+M158 7 shot rocket pods). a 500 watt Xenon searchlight was on top of each mini. "Dim tracer" ammo invisible to the naked eye was developed especialy for the INFANT system. The system was developed by Hughs aircraft in 1967. It went to Vietnam with the 1st Cav in 1969.
 
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FRITZHID

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Re: 300 or 500 Watt Short Arc Light Cannon

Thats Great Bob! it's always nice when you can find origins of new and unusual toys. now if only you can get the rest of the huey to go with it!!!! ;)
 

BVH

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Re: 500 Watt Short Arc M-134 Cannon Light

Can someone knowledgeable in electronics ID the two (one larger and one smaller) somewhat rounded diamond shaped components just below the black transformer?
 

2filthy3

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Re: 500 Watt Short Arc M-134 Cannon Light

Can someone knowledgeable in electronics ID the two (one larger and one smaller) somewhat rounded diamond shaped components just below the black transformer?

I believe they are both power transistors.
 
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Re: 500 Watt Short Arc M-134 Cannon Light

The small one is a Motorola 2N3767 (TO-66) power transistor. A little digging reveals that it's likely rated at 4A, 20W. The bigger one is more worn, but seems to be a Motorola MJ413 (TO-3) power transistor, rated at 10A, 125W.
 

BVH

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Re: 500 Watt Short Arc M-134 Cannon Light

Damn Bob,.... i wish i were in CA.... within about 1hrs time, i could figure the whole system for ya. :( sorry i live so far away.

Would more specific pics help? A pic of where each of the 9 wires lands?

I know 3 already. The Anode and Cathode connections - the biggest pins/wires and separate power for the fans. 3 down-6 to go. Two pins went to frame ground at least in testing with the continuity mode of my meter. But one of those seems to go to ground thru a tiny component. So maybe it's 4 down and 5 to go. Nowhere in the light does it indicate that it's a 28 Volt system so I am making that assumption, too. I've got a huge TM manual on the entire INFANT system coming that has some pages dedicated to the light. It's mostly electrical schematics in the manual. I asked the person before I bought it if he could look at the searchlight pages for me to see if he could make anything out regarding the 9 connection wires which he did but he is not electrically inclined and he does not see any type of pic of a 9-pin input so I'll just have to wait till it arrives.
 

FRITZHID

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Re: 500 Watt Short Arc M-134 Cannon Light

well the schematic would be the most helpful, that would give your the exacts of whats what, however, it may not give voltage ratings. does it have a focus mech? if so, i'd gather 2 of those pins are for spot/flood. they COULD conceivably be for a "strobe" function however i find that unlikely on a huey target lighting system, perhaps a "standby" circuit? closer pix may help, however, tracing electronics is alot easier with hands on view. if you have any issues reading the schematic, i'd be more then happy to take a look at it for ya! :)


edit: upon closer look, id say that atleast ONE of, if not 2 pins are "trigger" pins used to "strike" the light upon start up, much like some of the larger home made XSA systems, where constant power is applied to the bulb while lamp is "on" but it won't fire until actually lit 1st. then to shut off, all power is killed.
 
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BVH

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Re: 500 Watt Short Arc M-134 Cannon Light

No, no focus/bulb movement. I'll know more when I get the pages. Interesting the fan is marked 19V.
 

bshanahan14rulz

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Re: 500 Watt Short Arc M-134 Cannon Light

Curiosity is getting the best of me. Why do some discharge tubes like flashtubes have that wire that wraps around it or goes end to end?

Also, what is the part labeled S1 here, a solenoid, or a switch?
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y79/BVH/PCboard.jpg

Also, what's the big green box? Look like a big cap?

All the connections look good to me, and all the parts look to be in good condition. Maybe one of those transistors shorted itself or something.
 
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